CMJ 2012: Doldrums

Wednesday night/Thursday morning, 1 a.m. @ Mercury Lounge

"Uh, sorry if that was confusing," Doldrums frontman Airick Woodhead said. "I guess crowds usually like to shout things in the affirmative. So let's try that again. Do you all not give a fuck?"

"YEAH!"

That's just a snapshot of the amped up charm that Toronto/Montreal electro-imps Doldrums used to win over a decent-sized Wednesday night crowd to close the Windish Showcase at Mercury Lounge. Consisting mostly of cuts from their debut EP Empire Sound, Doldrums' set was full of towering tribal beats, earthquaking bass (at one point, I swear I felt the floor rumble), and hacked up samples, all tied together by surprisingly catchy pop melodies that unfurl from Woodhead's falsetto pipes. (His brother Daniel, whose dreamy project Moon King is also playing CMJ, added percussion.)

Woodhead has described his sound as "music for staying up all night," and that felt fitting-- even on a Wednesday, most everybody stuck around to catch every minute of their hypnotizing set. By the end of the night, the message couldn't be clearer: this is a band to give a fuck about.